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“THE FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION ACT OF 1997” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1760-E1761 on Sept. 16, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION ACT OF 1997
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HON. LEE H. HAMILTON
of indiana
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on International Relations met last week to hear testimony on H.R. 2431 (formerly H.R. 1685), the Freedom From Religious Persecution Act of 1997.
The long list of witnesses heard by the committee is a reflection of the strong interest generated by this legislation among human rights groups and religious and public policy organizations nationwide.
For those of my colleagues who have not yet had an opportunity to study this bill, I want to share a letter submitted to the committee for inclusion in the hearing record from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.
I hope my colleagues will find this thoughtful statement useful as the debate on this legislation moves forward:
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
To: Members of the House International Relations Committee.
From: Oliver Thomas, NCCC Special Counsel.
Re: Freedom From Religious Persecution Act (H.R. 1685/S.772).
Date: September 8, 1997.
Senator Arlin Specter (R-PA) and Representative Frank Wolf
(R-VA) have introduced legislation (H.R. 1685/S. 772) to address the persecution of Christians overseas. Mr. Wolf has written to the General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCCC) soliciting the NCCC's support for his bill.
There are a number of reasons why the NCCC and its member communions cannot support the Wolf/Specter bills as they are currently written, but should continue to pray and to take action to end religious persecution on their own terms. That is to say, the NCCC should remain true to its calling to seek justice and peace for all people and to carry on its work and witness in a manner consistent with its own responsibility as an American institution and its own understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As the nation's oldest and largest national ecumenical body, the NCCC must continue to emphasize the importance of bearing collective witness to religious liberty. This means working cooperatively with Jews, Muslims and other faith communities as well as with those in the Christian community. Our conversations with those in other faith communities indicate that many have strong reservations about Mr. Wolf's bill.
Before addressing the specifics of H.R. 1685, I would point out that the persecution of Christians must be viewed in the larger context of religious persecution and human rights abuses. God's commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves compels us to seek religious freedom for all--not just for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We, therefore, embrace the Universal Declaration of Rights which states: ``Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.``
Second, I could not agree more about the need for focused, fervent prayer on behalf of the persecuted members of God's human family. Far from silent, the NCCC and its international counterpart, the World Council of Churches, have long participated in prayer on behalf of our Christian brothers and sisters who suffer persecution. That is why, for example, we support the World Day of Prayer Against Religious Persecution sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship, and the International Cycle of Prayer developed through the World Council of Churches.
Turning to the specifics of H.R. 1685/S. 772, I begin with one aspect of the bill that warrants our support.
Reports--Annual reports on religious persecution abroad are extemely useful to the United States Government as well as to the general public. Americans need to know when foreign regimes are guilty of human rights abuses in order that we may respond accordingly. Fortunately, the State Department has begun this practice.
Aspects of the bill to which we are opposed include:
1. Creation of the Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring in the White House--The NCCC General Secretary has stated that the U.S. government office charged with primary responsibility for addressing religious persecution should, in so far as possible, be insulated from partisan political pressure. For that reason, we would oppose any suggestion that those who monitor religious persecution should be located in the White House. We believe that the persons best able and most qualified to monitor and report on religious persecution are at the State Department as the recent report
``United States Policies In Support Of Religious Freedom: Focus On Christians'' demonstrates. We also support the use of an advisory committee reflecting the religious pluralism of our country as with current practice rather than the appointment of a single individual charged with responsibility for the task. America's religious community is simply too diverse to expect one person to represent all of our concerns adequately. Minority religious communities are often the ones most vulnerable to mistreatment and thus especially need to be included.
2. Automatic Sanctions--The bill's approach to sanctions is overly simplistic. Americans must work in close partnership with people of faith in countries where persecution is occurring. How do they say we and our government can best be helpful? Would sanctions help, or would they hurt the wrong people? What other channels exist for pressure and protest? Clearly, sanctions should not be ruled out as a means to address religious persecution, but they should not be an automatic or first option.
3. Asylum Provisions--This legislation would change the refugee determination process to give special attention to those being singled out for persecution on the basis of religion. Under both international conventions and U.S. refugee law, there are five grounds for being granted refugee status: persecution on the basis of race, nationality, religion, membership in a social group, and political opinion. We do not support singling out religion as being more important than these other forms of persecution. Moreover, over the years, we have not supported designation of groups as refugees for resettlement, but rather have advocated for a case-by-case review of individual claims.
Obviously, there are people who leave their communities and countries because they are persecuted for their religious faith and those people should find the protection they need--whether in a neighboring country of asylum or in a third country through resettlement. But this is already part of international and national law. Singling out persecution of Christians as somehow being worse than persecution of political dissidents or a particular ethnic group undermines a lot of this international law we have worked so hard to get implemented.
What we can advocate is better application of existing law so that all of those claiming persecution get a fair hearing and that the adjudication procedures are both just and humane.
Finally, we believe some measure of humility is required as we act to stop religious persecution outside the United States. This is particularly urgent in light of the communications the NCCC has received from Christians in Egypt, China and other nations who express concern over America's eagerness to impose its political and constitutional ideals on others. As the General Secretary has stated: ``Although we cherish the American model of religious liberty and its meaning for us, we recognize that it is not the only model. Some of our most trusted friends in the world community worship and serve God in state churches. Others see toleration, rather than full freedom, as the touchstone for religious rights. In short, due consideration must be given to cultural values and existing religious life, especially on such matters as world missions, proselytizing and areas of permissible regulations.''
In short, not all encroachments on religious freedom rise to the level of persecution. And, even when they do, we must be careful to act in a way that alleviates rather than aggravates the problem.
For that reason, the NCCC and its member communions should consider an idea that has been proposed by members of the United States Senate: the establishment of a Commission on Security and Cooperation in Asia modeled after its European counterpart. Such a commission might be the forum where citizens of the United States could press their legitimate concerns about religious persecution in that region without further aggravating the problem.
In sum, the NCCC maintains its commitment to human rights and religious freedom for all persons. We believe this can be achieved through a variety of means including prayer, reporting, dialogue, protests, boycotts, and urging diplomatic pressure, and, in some cases, sanctions. We urge Congress and the Administration to use their full powers to better enforce existing national and international laws which seek to protect individuals from religious persecution. Although H.R. 1685/S.772 have some sections the NCCC could support, other sections (particularly 5 and 7) are highly objectionable. For that reason, the NCCC cannot support H.R. 1685/S.772 until and unless significant changes are made.
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